Eighty years ago today, on April 15, 1945, British forces of the 11th Armoured Division reached the gates of Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in northern Germany. What they encountered was beyond anything they had seen before: a landscape of death, disease, and unimaginable human suffering. The liberation of Belsen revealed to the world the full horror of the Nazi regime — a moment that would haunt its witnesses for the rest of their lives.

 

The soldiers found approximately 60,000 prisoners still alive, though many were so weak and emaciated they could barely stand or speak. These survivors were skeletal, their bodies ravaged by starvation and illness. Typhus, dysentery, tuberculosis, and other diseases had spread uncontrollably throughout the overcrowded barracks. Medical supplies were nonexistent. Sanitation had collapsed. Even water was in short supply. Many inmates died in the days and weeks following liberation despite the desperate efforts of British medics.

 

All around the camp were the corpses of those who had not made it. More than 10,000 bodies lay unburied, scattered across the grounds, piled in huts, or dumped in open mass graves. The stench of death clung to the air. Liberators described the scene as a vision of hell. “It was like walking into Dante’s Inferno,” recalled BBC war correspondent Richard Dimbleby, whose searing radio report helped bring the truth of the Holocaust to a shocked public.

 

Bergen-Belsen had originally been established in 1943 as a detention camp for political prisoners and Jews to be exchanged for Germans held abroad. By 1945, it had become a dumping ground for inmates evacuated from other camps as the Nazis attempted to hide their crimes in the face of advancing Allied forces. Thousands arrived already starving and ill, and with no resources to care for them, the camp descended into chaos and death.

 

Among the camp's most notorious figures were Commandant Josef Kramer, nicknamed the “Beast of Belsen,” who carried out and oversaw countless brutalities. Fritz Klein, the camp doctor, stood accused of selecting prisoners for death and showing utter disregard for human life. Perhaps most infamous was Irma Grese, a young SS guard whose cruelty and sadism earned her a central place in post-war war crimes trials. Their crimes were eventually exposed during the Belsen Trials, held later in 1945 by a British military tribunal.

 

In the immediate aftermath of liberation, British troops and medical volunteers — including members of the Royal Army Medical Corps and civilian relief workers — worked tirelessly to save as many lives as possible. The survivors were washed, fed, and given medical treatment. The dead were buried in mass graves by former SS guards, who were forced to witness the consequences of their crimes. The liberators also filmed the scenes to ensure that what they found could not be denied or forgotten.

 

The liberation of Bergen-Belsen became one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Holocaust. It was not a death camp in the mechanized sense of Auschwitz, but it became a place where neglect, cruelty, and dehumanization led to mass death on an appalling scale. For the survivors, it marked both the end of a nightmare and the beginning of the long, difficult journey toward recovery.

 

Today, on the 80th anniversary, we remember the victims who perished in Bergen-Belsen — and the countless others lost across the Nazi camp system. We honour the resilience of those who survived, the courage of the liberators, and the moral imperative they left behind: to bear witness, to confront hatred, and to ensure that such atrocities are never repeated.

 

A good friends Father was one of the first troops into the camp.

 

He never mentioned what he saw, but he had a strict rule for his three sons .... no religion allowed in their household.  He was convinced there is no God.

I visited a few years back. A very moving experience.

Not forgetting thousands of  Soviet POW's who perished at another camp nearby.

 

Visited Sachsenhausen concentration camp in my teens in what was then East Germany. I'll never forget it. It was less than 40 years since the end of WW 2 and West Berlin was such an awesome place to experience, an island of democracy in a sea of communism/totalitarianism.

Now the drums of war have started beating again, this time in the east, with a murderous dictator in the Kremlin longing for the reestablishment of the USSR. And in Washington a moronic clown and fascist wannabe is in the WH.

Really glad I'm not starting a family in these times.

This is a serious thread about a sensitive subject . 

This is not the place to be making jokes about your Grandfather dying at Bergen -Belsen  by falling out the watchtower .

An off topic troll deflection post and a reply about Auschwitz has been removed

1 hour ago, BLMFem said:

Visited Sachsenhausen concentration camp in my teens in what was then East Germany. I'll never forget it. It was less than 40 years since the end of WW 2 and West Berlin was such an awesome place to experience, an island of democracy in a sea of communism/totalitarianism.

Now the drums of war have started beating again, this time in the east, with a murderous dictator in the Kremlin longing for the reestablishment of the USSR. And in Washington a moronic clown and fascist wannabe is in the WH.

Really glad I'm not starting a family in these times.

Its amazing how you would desecrate this important topic with your political nonsense.

1 minute ago, Yagoda said:

Its amazing how you would desecrate this important topic with your political nonsense.

You do all the time with your MAGAmaniacal comments.

1 minute ago, Tug said:

I wish more of my country men would put partisanship aside and look with open eyes as to what’s happening in my country,it starts small the guy disappeared by trump comes to mind the singleling out of easy target minorities the lawlessness im so deeply concerned its taking hold at home……NEVER AGAIN!!!

 

   Disgraceful that you are comparing the USA to Nazi Germany  .

Not everything has to be about Trump all the time 

4 minutes ago, Tug said:

Rubbish we are indeed on that path under this administration this an appropriate thread to raise that concern 

 

   That's only happening in your own little make believe World ,

The real World isn't like that 

17 minutes ago, Tug said:

Rubbish we are indeed on that path under this administration this an appropriate thread to raise that concern 

No it is not.

1 hour ago, rough diamond said:

You do all the time with your MAGAmaniacal comments.

HI Flamer Troll. Care to share where I have inserted politics into a non political matter?

42 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

HI Flamer Troll. Care to share where I have inserted politics into a non political matter?

A joke section response with it's use of "Troll" and "Flamer"!

You missed out "socialists" and "left wing".

Yawn 💤

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Rubbish we are indeed on that path under this administration this an appropriate thread to raise that concern 

No its really not and its quite notable and sad that you claim it is.

 

Aside from all the others, Anne Frank and her sister Margot both died there.

 

Anne, Margot, and Auguste are taken to Bergen-Belsen

https://www.annefrank.org/en/timeline/86/anne-margot-and-auguste-are-taken-to-bergen-belsen/

1 minute ago, Tug said:

We are slipping down that slope in my view.

There you go again, showing just how out of touch with reality and how ignorant you are to the important anniversary today. Disgusting

1 minute ago, Tug said:

Rubbish it’s you and your ilk that are blind to what’s taking place 

Pretty sure there's topics on whatever you want to discuss. This is not one of them and you know it.

 

The Incredible Story Of The First Nazi Concentration Camp Freed by British Forces | Our History

 

 

 

   Historic event from 80 years ago in Germany , NOT USA Politics today !!!!!

At the end of World War II, my father was serving in the Royal Signals. He finished the war in Germany, after previously being stationed in South Africa, Libya, Egypt, and then Italy. He recalled having to help round up German civilians who were forced to go to cinemas to watch a documentary about the concentration camps. At the time, he felt barely disguised contempt for them—and for the Japanese as well. That feeling never truly left him, even decades later. He was one of the few who despaired when the Berlin Wall came down, while most of the world celebrated.

Way off topic posts have been removed, please stop hijacking this topic. 

Thank you @Tug

Pathetic old hens bickering in this topic, apparently cannot help themselves.

A further troll post has been removed, you need to stop now!

During WWII, my Dad RIP was in a RAF bomb disposal unit, mainly defusing bombs on UK airfields. Later in early 1945 he was clearing airfields in Europe for the Allies and was near Bergen-Belsen when it was liberated. His unit was ordered to tour the camp, when it was still occupied, to witness the justification for their involvement in the war. He only spoke once to me of the war and the camp when he was in his twilight years.

The best way to honor the memory of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust is to support the state of Israel.  A national homeland for the world's Jews behind secure borders is the best deterrent to a future attempt to wipe out Jews.  None of us should be blind to the wave of antisemitism that is once again sweeping the world.  The 7.4 million Jews in Israel are standing against many times that number of Arabs, Muslims and other antisemites who want to see them dead.

 

43 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

Yet one holocaust does not justify a second.

 

  We've already had someone compare the Holocaust to Donald Trumps USA

   Now we have someone comparing the Holocaust to the Gaza war .

Anymore comparisons ?

11 hours ago, Kinnock said:

A good friends Father was one of the first troops into the camp.

 

There's that scene in the movie Schindler's List where the recon soldier on horseback sees his first solid of proof of these rumored death camps, and the surviving kid looking back at him is incredibly moving.  And there is no dialogue.  It is as if each are questioning whether they are dreaming.

 

8 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

As much as you cannot back up your innuendo that I was being Anti-Semitic. Go back to the bot farm for more mud.

 

  I didn't say that you were being anti semitic .

Three false consecutives accusations and now the abuse begins .

(Although what you did say is actually regarded as being anti semitic , but still, I didn't accuse you of being that )

19 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

That is a huge stretch.

Only an idiot would compare Trump with Hitler.

A number of posts have been removed for off topic comparisons and inflammatory slurs to Trump and Israel. Please respect the topic of this thread. Jews, other religions and other nationalities will be reading it, some will have been touched by it in some way. It is highly disrespectful to continue the off topic hyjacking attempts. You have already had 2 Admin notices on this. Refrain or there will be consequences. That is also aimed at you @cjinchiangrai

6 hours ago, Harrisfan said:

Only an idiot would compare Trump with Hitler.

 

Bergen-Belsen demonstrates man’s intolerance toward man—no need to perpetuate it.